Leaving Laurabelle Falls

Chapter 1

 My eyes were foggy. My body felt like dead weight as my lungs pulled stale oxygen in. Nobody was in the room when I blinked the sleep out of my eyes, moved my half-dry tongue and tried to sit up. I didn't really remember anything at first.

I ended up staring blankly at the white wall next to me for several minutes, trying to piece together where I was.

There was an IV in my arm, and I had a tube going up my nose. It was uncomfortable, but I didn't really feel enough yet to understand how much.

The nurse that came in almost dropped the clipboard she was holding when she found my eyes open. "Laura?"

I blinked at her. "Yes?"

She quickly put down the clipboard, and rushed over to me. She pulled a small flashlight out of her back pocket and shone it into my eyes, one by one. I flinched away, but it was slow. Still, whatever she wanted to see, she had seen it.

"Do you know where you are?" She asked.

"A hospital?" I responded. (I would like to pretend I said something funny, but it would take awhile for my waking brain to start working fast enough for that again).

"Do you know how you got here?" She questioned, as she moved to check the monitors. I tried to watch her, but moving at all was exhausting.

"No." I responded. It would take a little bit for everything to come back to me. She nodded, and paused. She came back to my side, and took my hand in hers. Her eyes were warm and green. They reminded me of my mother's.

"I'm gonna go call your family, okay?" She said, gently. "One of them is usually here, but your mother was exhausted last night. Your brother wouldn't let her sleep in the hospital again, and he told us he had work in the morning."

I had an odd sensation of fear come over me. I would not understand why until later.

"Don't bother her." I said, immediately. The nurse gave me a look. Her eyebrows pulled together, her chin came down. She squinted, just a little.

"Sweetheart, she isn't going to be bothered." She explained. Then, her lips pursed. She sighed, patted my hand twice, and turned away. "Don't worry. I'm sure she'll be here soon."

I relaxed into my bed, and found that my eyes were closing again. Sleep overcame me quickly.

The next time I woke up, my mother and my brother were both beside the bed. As soon as she made eye contact, my mother's eyes filled with tears. Her hair was halfway-done, her eyeshadow lacked liner. I could tell that she had been getting ready for work before she had gotten the call.

My mother hadn't missed a day of work in years.

"Honey?" She said, her voice breaking into another octave on the second syllable. I barely recognized the word.

"Comb." I responded. Something that we had done since I was a child; she said 'honey', I said 'comb'.

"Oh God," My brother said, huffing out a laugh. He uncrossed his arms, and his shoulders sank down. He shook his head, and then ran a hand over his face.

Looking back, I think he might have been crying, too.

"Oh God, Laura, you scared us sick." My mother said, rushing to my bedside. She immediately grabbed my hand; the one that the IV was in. She held onto it with the force of a woman who doesn't know how to let go; my skin distorted, and I hissed in pain. She eased up, somewhat.

"What happened?" I asked, still confused. My brother, Noah, huffed a laugh.

"Well, I can tell she's tired." He said, nodding. I blinked.